Tag: NetGalley

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Betrayal by David Gilman. My thanks to Sophie at Ransom PR for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Head of Zeus for my review copy. Do check out the review by my tour buddy for today, Jo at Murder, Jo Wrote.

About the Book

Someone’s trying to start a war. And Raglan’s just walked into the kill zone.

It has been many years since Dan Raglan served in the French Foreign Legion, but the bonds forged in adversity are unbreakable and when one of his comrades calls for help, Raglan is duty-bound to answer. An ex-legionnaire, now an intelligence officer at the Pentagon, disappears. He leaves only this message: should he ever go missing, contact Raglan. But Raglan’s not the only one looking for the missing man.

From the backstreets of Marseilles, Raglan finds himself following a trail of death that will lead him to Florida, to the camaraderie of a Vietnam vet in Washington D.C., and into the heart of a bitter battle in the upper echelons of the US intelligence community.

Pursued by both the CIA and a rogue female FBI agent, Raglan’s search will place him in the cross hairs of an altogether more lethal organisation. Tracking his old comrade, he finds himself in the midst of deadly conspiracy, and on a journey to a fatal confrontation deep in the Honduran rainforest

Format: Hardcover (544 pages)       Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 6th January 2022 Genre: Thriller

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My Review

I absolutely loved The Englishman, the book that first introduced the world to ex-French Foreign Legion soldier and all-round action man, Dan Raglan, so you can imagine my excitement when I learned that a follow-up was on the way.

The description of Betrayal as a ‘high-octane international thriller’ is spot-on. The action comes thick and fast. If Raglan’s not engaged in deadly combat, he’s either preparing for it or recovering from it.  Raglan is seemingly indomitable; the ‘kill zone’ being a place he knows all too well.  As one character remarks to him, ‘Dead people appear on a regular basis when you’re around’. He’s also clever, tech-savvy, super-fit, has eyes in the back of his head and is adept at using any sort of weaponry you care to imagine. A man of many talents, he can pilot a plane, speak any number of languages, spot a security camera a mile off, find his way through a crocodile-infested mangrove swamp and even perform minor surgery on himself.  And who else do you know who stores bullet fragments in his tooth mug?

In the hands of the author, Raglan is not some sort of robotic killing machine. He’s also mortal and carries traumatic memories of things he’s seen – and done.  He’s a steadfast friend and demonstrates an unbreakable loyalty to the comrades who served alongside him in the French Foreign Legion. As he says, ‘the Legion was family’ and their motto ‘the mission is sacred’ is one he lives by. There are occasional glimpses of a softer side too even if he admits ‘I don’t have anybody tearing themselves apart over me’.

At this point I have a confession to make: I’ve developed rather a crush on Raglan. I know it’s unlikely, and I’m aware I might have formidable competition, but if there’s ever a vacancy for a Mrs. Raglan, count me in. (I hope my husband isn’t reading this.) Apart from anything else, I’d make sure he had a good supply of his favourite dark blue T-shirts and I’d even tend to a wound on his upper thigh. (I really hope my husband isn’t reading this.)

The pace of the book is intense and, despite being over 500 pages, the short chapters help the story move along like a whirlwind. A plot that involves people in positions of power engaging in activity that circumvents government oversight in order to achieve their own political ends, well that could never happen could it? Although, wait a minute… And don’t worry if you don’t know your DIA from your FBI or your CIA, all you really need to know is that there are bad guys out there – really, really bad guys – planning to do all sorts of unspeakable things and Raglan is out to stop them.

Those not completely obsessed by the thought of Raglan stripped to the waist or all sweaty after a punishing two mile run (I know, divorce papers arriving in the post any day) need not worry, your thirst for all-out action scenes will be fully quenched. The author serves up one bone-crunching, brutal and bloody scene after another making you wonder just how Raglan has survived so long. But has he met his match when he encounters a deadly opponent just as driven and ruthless as he is? I’m afraid you’re going to have to read the book to find out.

If you’ve survived reading this Raglan love-fest, I think it will be apparent that I absolutely loved Betrayal. To my mind, it’s everything you could wish for in an action thriller.  (By the way, check out the author’s website to see a photograph taken during a private tour of the Pentagon that formed part of his research for the book.)

In three words: Gripping, action-packed, pacy

Try something similar: No Way To Die by Tony Kent

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About the Author

David Gilman has enjoyed many careers  – including firefighter, being in the Paras and as a photographer – before turning to writing full-time. He is an award-winning author, is published in several languages and was also the screenwriter for A Touch of Frost.

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